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Aura Z-Line Glass and Metal Desk

Never underestimate the importance of a workspace. I used to use my laptop on the kitchen table. It was very functional and I had a good time. But last weekend I had to move my laptop and papers upstairs. I had a desk in storage but it was in pieces and it was stuffed away somewhere in some box. So I decided to purchase a new desk. I didn’t feel like driving all the way to IKEA so I went to the Staples in Costa Mesa on 17th street. I immediately saw the  Z-Line Aura Silver Metal and Glass Computer Desk and was impressed by its simplicity, functionality, personality and elegance. It took a few minutes for the staff to get the desk for me from the back, but I wasn’t in a hurry and I didn’t mind waiting. I was charged $79.99 for the desk but if you click on the picture you may be able to get it for less money. I think there is a sale on it right now for 40 dollars off. (today’s date: Aug. 25th, 2010) When I brought the desk home it came in a big box but it wasn’t very heavy. The heaviest part was the glass. The rest of it is made of light metal pieces and a piece of wood.

Setting up the desk was very easy, and it only took me about 30 minutes to set the whole thing up from start to finish. The only tool that I needed that wasn’t included in the box was a standard Phillips head screwdriver. Most of the work was done with a hex key that was included. The body of the desk is a nice silver finish metal. And the glass is very nice and the perfect thickness. My favorite part of the whole desk is how the glass connects to the body. There are these thick cylindrical pieces that connect the two parts. And since the top of the desk is made of glass you can see the metal cylinders and they look stylish and humble and very cool. The wood keyboard try is great. But since I am using the desk for my laptop I don’t use the keyboard tray for a keyboard. Instead I’m using the wooden keyboard tray to store my papers, my art journal, and my Starbucks Survey receipts.

My laptop isn’t very big, but it isn’t a mini-laptop either. And it fits comfortably on the glass desk. I have a USB mouse and a normal sized mouse pad with a gel wrist-rest. They fit on the desk nicely. I also use a Blue Snowball USB microphone that fits snugly on the left side of the desk. The rest of the space I use to hold my beverages and my collection/stack of San Pellegrino bottle-caps.

This Z-Line Silver Metal and Glass desk looks great in my room and since I don’t have very much space it works perfectly. I feel better about my room now that the desk is here. It is more livable and it is a little bit easier waking up in the morning. Being greeted by a piece of furniture that I am proud of every morning has cumulative effects on my mood that I can definitely notice.

The cool thing about my desk is that I actually did go to my storage locker after purchasing the desk, and I was able to pull out my nice faux-leather desk chair. The chair was a bit dusty so when I brought it home I cleaned it with Windex and afterwords it was like new! It fit perfectly under the desk, although I had to lower it a bit using the pneumatic control mechanism near the base of the chair.

The Z-Line Silver Metal desk is not very big, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for someone that needed a ton of space. This is more of a compact solution for efficiency, price, and style. For me the big selling point was the thickness and quality of the glass. It is almost a third of an inch thick and it tempered. If you buy it make sure not to put heavy things on the glass. Like all glass products it can break under a heavy load. So be sure to check the information before setting up your workstation.

Another cool thing about the desk is that it is sturdy. I don’t have any real wiggle on the desk when I type so that’s a good thing. One thing to remember about the desk is that it isn’t one of those desks that connect to another of the same kind. So this is more of a one-shot desk. I am very happy with it.

-Tyler

The Crow Bar and Kitchen

2325 E. Coast Highway, Corona del Mar, California 92625

(949) 675-0070

I don’t know who Grandma Jane is. But I do know that the hamburger named after her is delicious! I went to The Crow Bar  and Kitchen on Thursday and ordered the ‘grandma jane’ and their Duck Fries. As well as a bottle of Harney & Son’s organic black iced tea. There were a bunch of burgers on their lunch menu and I wanted to try something that sounded unique. Here’s a link to their lunch menu. The grandma jane burger consists of a toasted english muffin with herbed cream cheese, sliced red onion, vine ripe organic tomato, onion sprouts and let’s not forget the hamburger meat. The meat is cooked to order. I ordered it medium and they did a great job. The burger patty was 1/4 pound and so it wasn’t very big. Also since the thing was all inside a large english muffin the burger was truly lunch sized. You are probably thinking what I was thinking, “What’s cream cheese doing on a hamburger?” Well, lemme tell you, it was tasty and snackariffic! The herb cream cheese was high quality and tasted smooth and it really accented the flavor of the meat. It wasn’t overpowering like I thought it was going to be. There are a lot of sprouts on this burger. So if you don’t like sprouts you might want to say something to your server. I personally like sprouts so I didn’t mind. I can’t remember the tomato that much. It mostly added to the texture  of the burger. But I’m glad it was there. Tomatoes are a great addition to any sandwich. The onion was the perfect thickness and had a fresh taste. But the real winning combination of the Grandma Jane was the crispiness of the muffin combined with the full flavor of the meat, mixed with the creaminess of the cheese. It had this very unique flavor that made me want to savor every bite, and eat my burger as gentlemanly as possible. This I was able to do because of the sublime french fries.

The fries I ordered didn’t come with the burger. I had to order them separately. They were called, Duck Fries and at first I thought they were going to be large flat fries like steak fries or something. But in fact they were of slightly wider thickness than a shoestring fry and what made them get their name was that they were actually cooked in duck fat. I’ve eaten duck before and I remember the stuff was interesting but not ridiculously remarkable. The meat was tender and juicy. But I remember that the duck meat was fatty. So when the bartender/server told me that the Duck Fries were cooked in duck fat I decided to give them a try. And I wasn’t disappointed because they were fried very accurately and had ninja-like precision of brownness and crispness. The duck fries were slightly salted and they had some seasonings on them. The potatoes used were great quality and were substantial enough to eat slowly, one-by-one and savor. They gave me some kind of homemade-looking ketchup and it had a puree texture. But I didn’t use the ketchup on the fries. In fact I used this creamy ranch-ish dipping sauce that was white with greenish-yellow specks. That was really good. The duck fries with the Grandma Jane burger was a great combo.

The price of the grandma jane burger was $7 a la carte, and the price of the duck fries was a whopping $6. Six bucks is a lot of money to pay for fries…I don’t care if they are cooking in duck fat. They could be cooked in leviathan lard for all I care. But the fact is, I really liked them. And I will probably buy them again the next time I go to the Crow Bar. Besides, you don’t really go to the Crow Bar to dine for cheap. It is relaxed, higher end.

The decor of the Crow Bar is very cool and wooden. It has a classy interior that looks good during lunch hours and I bet it is a lot of fun at nighttime.

-Tyler

This is where I got the latte - Antonello Espresso Bar

Antonello Espresso Bar

3800 South Plaza Drive (Inside South Coast Plaza Mall)
Santa Ana, California  92704
Telephone: 714.751.7153

The reason why this Latte was the best latte of my life is NOT because it had the silkiest foam. I have had much better foam at my local Starbucks and at Peet’s Coffee in Irvine. The reason why this is the best latte of my life is because the espresso actually tasted, nutty and buttery. At first I was surprised that I was drinking a latte, because I have been acclimated to either drinking strong or bitter espresso. But the flavor of this espresso was to die for. And the girl poured a lot of espresso into the drink and I was thinking that it was going to be overwhelmingly strong and bitter when she did that. But I was blown away by the delicious flavor. I live miles away and I am seriously tempted to drive back over to the mall just so I can have another latte from these people.

The main reason why I think the espresso tasted so good is because they used an old style machine to pull the shots. You see, at Starbucks they use a machine that pulls the shots automatically. The only real control that the barista has over the flavor of the shots are the amount of time that the shot gets water pulled through them, and the fineness or coarseness of the grind of the beans. I am not complaining about this, it generally gives a decent shot this way. But the old school machines require that you tamp the ground beans into the thing that pulls the shot (I can’t remember what that’s called right now). Tamping is when you tap the ground beans with a blunt object in order to press them to the desired density before pulling the shot. I think Peet’s Coffee uses manual machines like this, but their espresso never tastes this smooth and creamy.

When I first tasted the drink I was actually surprised. It was so good, I felt like someone gave me the wrong drink. I didn’t get any sweetener and was given their standard milk and I was like, “Whaaaa?” The closest thing I can think of to describe the flavor would be if you mixed espresso flavor with a little butter some milk and half-and-half with a nutty aftertaste. But the crazy thing is that I watched the girl make my drink and she just used espresso and steamed milk and that was it. The one thing I noticed about the espresso was that it was a more dark caramel-looking color instead of being dark brown or black. And there was a lot of espresso. So what I’m thinking, is that she pulled shots that had a lot of “crema.” This means that the shots she pulled had the foamier sweeter part of the espresso as the focal point of each shot. It did not taste watery at all. So I don’t think she ran the shots for a long time. I’m not exactly sure how she got the espresso to taste that good. But it is definitely worth a repeat visit under another barista to see if they can reproduce such a great latte.

The other emotion that I felt when I drank the latte was, confusion. I was confused and perplexed by how she was able to make my drink taste so good. I wish I had a picture of my face when I first tasted it. That was I could have a firm record of the moment when I drank the best latte of my life to date.

Again, this drink didn’t have the best foam. If it had the foam that the amazing baristas at my local Starbucks have been making lately, I would have probably came back for another one after I tried on clothes.

-Tyler

Click on the picture to buy Red Moon!

Red Moon is an impressive Graphic Novel by David McAdoo. It mostly a highly detailed black & white book about a dog named, “Mox” that has extraordinary vision and a special purpose. The animals depicted in Red Moon have a tremendous amount of character and likability. Red Moon is 200 pages long and is currently selling on Etsy.com for $20.00 plus shipping and handling. Even though it is 200 pages long, the book is a fast read because you get sucked into the story and the art is so stupendous that you really want to keep reading so you can look at the next masterpiece waiting on the next page. I am a real animal lover. I have had a dog in my life as long as I can remember. So reading Red Moon was a special treat for me because there are many depictions of dogs, cats and other creatures like centipedes birds, deer, frogs, snakes, and tons of others. What really makes Red Moon special is the art. Each frame has a unique perspective. No two pictures look the same. It is obvious that McAdoo gave every drawing the utmost care and effort. You can see the texture of the fur, the deepness of the eyes, and the sincerity of the smile of every character. It is a real pleasure to read.

There is some action and animal violence in the book but it isn’t gory or bloody. Most of the book is very pleasurable to look at because of the many scenes of walking through beautiful landscapes. There are pages where you get to see what is happening inside Mox’s mind. Those pictures are breathtaking and a real wonder to look at. You will find yourself stopping and examining those pages for a long time and just immersing yourself in the flow of the art. McAdoo uses a great deal of sensual curves and lines in his artwork that make scenes feel like they are spanning across miles. Some of the drawings I had trouble figuring out how they were created at all. It’s not just detail. It is storytelling through each tentacle or claw, narration through each fang and tree branch.

I am very glad that I bought a copy of Red Moon. I have read several graphic novels throughout my lifetime. But Red Moon is the first that I have actually purchased and I have decided to use it to start my collection. If I ever have a family of my own and have kids. I will definitely show them Red Moon once they become teenagers. I feel that this story tells a great deal about one’s purpose and listening to one’s inner self.

You can purchase Red Moon by clicking here.

INTERVIEW with David McAdoo about Red Moon!

Tyler: What was your inspiration for the story behind RED MOON?

McAdoo: Well, the main character, Mox, is a dog I had growing up. He was a great dog but before he passed he started having seizures and we didn’t know why. Naturally, my frontal lobe blocked the sadness of him being sick by creating an alternate reason that maybe he was having some strange visions or premonitions. If only we could understand what our pets were thinking…

Tyler: Let’s talk about the art in the book. What would you call your style of the art in the book?

McAdoo: That’s tough. I don’t have a name for my art style. Someone else can call it something. It’s just how I draw. I like detail and I like it dark and moody and I try to make it more realistic than cartoony.

Tyler: The main character, Mox has a unique ability. Can you tell us a little about that?

McAdoo: Early on in Red Moon Mox starts having “visions” of the world in destruction. They are a total mystery to Mox and his friend Daeden. Another idea that spawned my writing of Red Moon was the largely undocumented phenomenon of animals “knowing” when disasters will strike. If you look deep enough in the newspapers and science journals you’ll find small stories and skipped-over tales of animals moving to higher ground in floods and tsunamis, hiding days before an earthquake or tornado, fleeing the area before storms of all kinds. They know something we don’t. I firmly believe that.

Tyler: In “RED MOON” there is a special connection that the creatures on Earth share called the “Omi Tara.” Is this something that is real in everyday life? Or is this something that you created for the story?

McAdoo: I created the Om-tira as a representation of the animal world’s spirituality and connection to nature. It’s my attempt to give the animals a unifying strength without introducing some kind of human-like religion. For me personally it represents a harnessing of the chaos of Mother Nature and the universe.

Tyler: My personal favorite character in RED MOON is a gigantic psychic centipede named Colotal. What was going through your mind when you created this uncanny character?

McAdoo: What have we never seen before? What could be lurking deep in the forests of North America, if there was only one, no matter how big? And what would happen to a millipede if it never died and kept growing?My thought process was that insects are among the oldest living land animals and that they would be prime candidates for the wisest and oldest sages.

Tyler: Tell us a little about why you decided to create a graphic novel about animals as the primary characters.

McAdoo: I grew up with Disney and Don Bluth movies. I love the Jungle Book, The Fox and the Hound, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down. Aside from Watership Down, those stories just skimmed over the darker elements and possibilities. I wanted to take it a bit further and really make my mark in the genre.

Tyler: What was your favorite part of making RED MOON?

McAdoo: Seeing it all come together and having the final book in my hands after 2 years of work.

Thank you David for taking the time to share your thoughts with us here at overidon.com! You have done some triumphant work and I look forward to seeing your future creations.

You can purchase Red Moon by clicking here.